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1978 Lucky BRAT

I have just hit the BRAT lottery. This car is extremely clean. Everything is still intact on it, down to the original carpet in the bed. The rust is purely cosmetic and one or two very minor dents. There are a few spots on the bottom that are bent from someone that does not know how to use a jack. The odometer reads 84,000 but I have no reason to believe that it has turned over even once. The best part is I paid less for the entire car than the jump seats are worth alone. $400. I plan on holding on to this beauty and using it as my daily driver.

I drove it for about a two weeks before it died on me. It overheated and was spewing white smoke after running flawlessly since I fixed the fuel issue and new clutch two weeks earlier. I haven't had a chance to really get into it but from first glance I can tell the water pump is shot and I'm guessing head gaskets because of the white smoke. The good news is I have a friend that has an ea 82 with 35,000 miles for an amazing deal and also an ea 81 for probably less than the 82. I'm not sure of the years on either or the miles on the 81. After reading through a few threads here I can tell that the 82 is going to take quite a bit of work to fit into this car, so I am deciding on whether I rebuild the original 71 or buy the 81.

I have a few questions that I am sure have been answered already in other threads but I am asking again.

Will the 81 "bolt on" without any mods if I keep my original tranny? And if not, what do I need to modify?

Also if someone could point my in the right direction for some new seats that can be easily fit into the car.

good deal on the BRAT, the jumpseats arent worth 400 but still a good deal. i paid less than half that for my 78, with jumpseats. mine has a ea81 but doesnt run yet. im sure fixing your ea71 would be cheaper and easier than swapping in the ea81, im not sure itll bolt to the trans bellhousing.

Sounds like a good score. On a side note, not to be mean, I have never seen a set of jump seats go for $400. Not all together, maybe the most superb examples of each part, though. Looking forward to pictures.

you have to use a ea81 4sp dual range transmission or ea82 5 sp dual range but you have to do a lot more to fit in a 5 speed, both would require either a ea81 or ea82 wheel and clutch or combination,linkage work, and maybe a custom drive line. when i tried puting in a 5sp in my dads 78 it needed the mounts lowered so you might as well just lift it because the transmission tunnel is to small. the way the starter is setupon the ea71 transmission makes it almost impossible to put on a ea81 or ea82 motor. i would put in the ea81 with the 5sp or just rebuild.

I'm leaning towards the rebuild. I was in some other forums reading about jump seat prices. I guess they have sold for higher prices but it took a special buyer.

I'm thinking rebuild the 71, weber carb, and electronic ignition upgrade. What I really want is a good mountain driver. I need more power going up I70 out of Denver. I'm not looking to fly up the mountain, but there's gotta be some way to squeeze some extra power out of this thing.

Sounds like a good find, congratulations! Just keep in mind these are not practical high speed, high altitude vehicles. 67 horses will only get you so far so fast. It just takes a certain mindset to stay in the slow lane is all. I love mine around town and in the snow, it can't be beat. Have fun.

Sounds like a good find, congratulations! Just keep in mind these are not practical high speed, high altitude vehicles. 67 horses will only get you so far so fast. It just takes a certain mindset to stay in the slow lane is all. I love mine around town and in the snow, it can't be beat. Have fun.

If you think these are not high speed vehicles, you should drive a Subaru 360 pick up sometime! I drive mine on the highway at 70 regularly....... (the BRAT that is) the 360 won't even go 70!

So I still have the BRAT but the engine that I paid $400 dollars was a bust. Wrong year and is going to take too much time and effort to get into the car. Now I am in the market for a direct swap ea71 that I will be able to swap myself. If anyone knows where I can pick one up from, I would greatly appreciate the info. I am also going to start a new thread on this topic.

Sorry it has taken so long to get some pics up work has been out of control this entire summer, but the good news is all of the overtime will fund my BRAT project. hopefully in the next couple of days I will post the pics.

So I still have the BRAT but the engine that I paid $400 dollars was a bust. Wrong year and is going to take too much time and effort to get into the car. Now I am in the market for a direct swap ea71 that I will be able to swap myself. If anyone knows where I can pick one up from, I would greatly appreciate the info. I am also going to start a new thread on this topic.

Sorry it has taken so long to get some pics up work has been out of control this entire summer, but the good news is all of the overtime will fund my BRAT project. hopefully in the next couple of days I will post the pics.

Thank you everyone

Help me find an EJ25 swap in CO and we can talk, lol. I just rebuilt my engine and trans (EA71).